Cooking safely when alone and one has illness; Timed auto-shutdown safety cooking using induction cooktop
Last updated on 12th Oct. 2022
I decided to publish this post on my spiritual blog as I think it may be useful to some single spiritual aspirants like me.
Firstly a list of my Facebook posts related to cooking safely when alone and one has illness, leading to timed auto-shutdown safety cooking using induction cooktop, from May 31st 2022 to end July 2022, is given below. That is followed by copy-paste of the contents of these Facebook posts.
1) Cooking safely when alone and one has illness; Suggestions welcome, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid022zkSoR5uG4sVtBiQnA7H8yDWx9yPFbtSvWZ1WcmKARmh3Nx91tYqnLHj1EpxH1dKl , 31st May 2022
2) Used Pressure cooker on gas when maid was present to cook beans only; Did further cooking of beans in rice cooker and checked that it auto switches off after veggies are cooked, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0wiXMyuAkGhyPYqnH1kzYXMTbkj47HQv8dGTqgMibnEYbA8FGJ3ffoGvTj7cEanHjl , 5th June 2022
3) Have now got an auto shutoff pressure cooker cooking setup with induction cooktop at economical cost, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02w7ghQ2WUh49uXZ23ENfzd1NRqrRmzjyGA8G5htFT5rz4dmfo9oitcmZS4GqdJWxFl , 13th June 2022
4) Cooking simple low-salt rice, dal & veggies meal with auto-shutdown safety, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02T99iWE3wjzKkA9eBE9wkksydjWyQxDQDro3J3SBy7WsCWAbo1U84xFhd5MuAMuc1l , 21st June 2022
5) Trying out steamer vessel on induction cooktop for cooking of veggies with timed auto-shutdown safety, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02nq3y7KZSmwjbNZF3WtnC8TW2pxopu2gE7vKzTTsq28JAfwVMWj5zZjFqvXSBmQEvl , 23rd June 2022
6) Trying out only bottom part of steamer vessel for cooking of veggies on induction cooktop with timed auto-shutdown safety, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02BFXX1uqsEP6GSyHytgkaqsWsiY8d1rFJH639td1AkvKGMDxJxS9tv7X3gzmcrqcml , 24th June 2022
7) Cooking veggies with mild masala in two vessel steamer with timed auto shutdown safety, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid01F5NsxKtNzicfQp8bhd7aioDP8Z71DFxbPYTqtJmaaJ2FwpLVoc26W9cq8DagKAel , 1st July 2022
8) Cooking moong dal in bottom vessel of steamer and veggies in top vessel on induction cooktop with timed auto shutdown safety, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02SBLvTRk1WN8MwgEmgUzXFwHNfFb6x9b2jR5i2HFhTG1QdhMTWPE7GrzGN1cDDTmVl , 11th July 2022
9) Timed auto shutdown safe cooking with Prestige PIC 20.0 induction cooktop has a tiny time window without timer, and so has a tiny without auto-shutdown safety time window, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid036ThGFsFxBqK6atSZm7FVMTLxnTgokAHdgSPE3pRyqER1kHoNjU1H6PVzsHriBgFil , 28th July 2022
10) Cooking simple sambar in 2 Litre pressure cooker on induction cooktop with timed auto-shutdown safety, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02BvXbAsyHtQA5sjRG7BRiwtB11292dqiKeHrWmwp7TtEpAM7KmrPM36e76p5jYou5l , 18th August 2022
11) Pleasant surprise of lightweight 5 Litre Prestige Aluminium pressure cooker that works on both gas and induction cooktop; Cooking moong dal (green gram) khichadi in it on induction cooktop with timed auto shutdown safety, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02Mm3QNrM3XjgfrRxffJAUqobh8femeuMwgMQP9UtKTnXURy7TGrKfFV51T3Jzq9XKl , 20th August 2022
12) Using separator vessels plus stand-n-lifter for cooking in pressure cooker raises weight to be lifted to over 1.5 kg which is an issue for me, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0rpbJ43poRKa8GiAudzCkQQcAS2G9VPUqWSWEDUUZ6FSgWriN7WUAbuiyXcph67Q6l , 21st August 2022
13) Today's cooking using grid and separator vessels without stand&lifter thus limiting weight to be lifted to 1.2 kg with one unexpected exception, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02W2aqi12Xqfx7FqAXA7QxKzsuBv9tqqPyR7NtwdzaDKEoKsCpV5ovS3Nkyrr1FQnkl , 22nd August 2022
14) Today's cooking with variation of 3 separator vessels; 2 Litre cooker grid being small may have contributed to tilting of 2 separator vessels during cooking, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0faiaxo6FfC2Z4ffKPV58ZgbSsd7cjFAT6XoszAVaazd7Wa1Ui2VLhovcVeUgXjGrl , 23rd August 2022
15) Today's cooking with 5.5 L grid and 3 separator vessels in 5 L Prestige pressure cooker on induction cooktop with timed auto-shutdown safety, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0Pbxof8cGiGzqEEKmnKoqt3vQjX7iQWSc5WNb6p1mNQMxGRsoQRUoTWGBU4jD6JCMl , 24th August 2022
16) Rice spillover problem of yesterday's cooking, fixed in today's cooking with rice kept in bottom separator, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02jZ9nPNt4HXkLnETTH3XfoKkj64gkYiteLfayfKqtE9m9sNLxg7UoAHnuinWKm9FFl , 25th August 2022
17) Decided to stop everyday cooking and have hired cooking help/maid, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02W1Afn1hAeehfWJpCoaP9mKp3q1bmnYrXx4zC7M5ivqQdSx57bsKbAUMNT8poKMGul , 28th August 2022
18) Nice small and light 0.5 litre electric kettle with auto-shutdown safety for boiling water (which could be used for tea, coffee etc.), https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02HSY99sAb2R84J2kvikBXFVYdvycEtv8XNNvCUsXddo8547MN8vtSCJBFfnk1xDGXl
19) My recent experience of cooking saltless, less oil and well cooked food using pressure cooker or steamer helps me to guide cooking help/maid; Faced pressure cooker safety valve burst for first time in my life, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0EFKicBiC26wCTrhnjyfzafA2FDnHbqRf1jUWG3R4fVEfhKutwaKvm1WNrDKfWRv4l
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The text, pics & video clips from above Facebook posts are reproduced (copy-pasted) below.
1) Cooking safely when alone and one has illness; Suggestions welcome
Given below are contents, including my comments, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid022zkSoR5uG4sVtBiQnA7H8yDWx9yPFbtSvWZ1WcmKARmh3Nx91tYqnLHj1EpxH1dKl , 31st May 2022:
As I am a heart disease patient now, I want to be careful when cooking when alone in my flat.
I usually order food from Puttaparthi restaurants but at times I need to do some cooking. Also sometimes I am not able to get decently priced and home-delivered food which is low-salt/saltless. I have been prescribed a low salt diet. If I get a saltless item, I can simply add some salt to it. So sometimes when I cannot get decently priced and home-delivered low-salt/saltless food, I consider the option of cooking low-salt/saltless food at home.
That's when the issue of how do I cook safely i.e. cook with an auto switch off mechanism, becomes important.
Microwave cooking is safe as it shuts off when the time period is over (usually the max. amt. timer I set is 2 mins). I mainly use the microwave to heat food from the refrigerator. I can also use it to heat water for tea/coffee.
However gas cooking is not fully safe as if I have some serious health issue, the gas will not switch off after some set time. I looked on the net whether there are timer controls for gas cooking.
Automatic Gas-Burner Knob-Turner, https://www.amazon.in/dp/B099X5LTKV/ is interesting but it costs nearly Rs.5000 !!! That makes it a hard choice for me.
Perhaps I should simply not do any gas cooking when I am alone at home. If maid or some other person is in my flat then I can do gas cooking.
How about electric cookers like rice cooker which can be used for cooking other items too? I already have a 1.8 Litre capacity rice cooker and a 0.6 Litre capacity rice cooker. They don't have timers but are supposed to do an auto shutoff or warm, when rice gets cooked. For both my rice cookers, I recently saw that the auto shutoff system works when rice gets cooked - the 1.8 litre cooker switches to warm from cook and the 0.6 litre cooker shuts off (it does not have warm setting). Note that I had not used these rice cookers for years. I should add that the 0.6 litre cooker had quite some rice stuck to the bottom which I could not use as food and which the maid struggled to clean - she had to put some water in it and keep it aside for few hours before she was able to clean it properly. So learning here is that I cannot expect the 0.6 litre rice cooker to do unattended proper rice cooking. I need to do some stirring, checking water level etc.
But what I am realizing is that the main thing I may need to cook is vegetables and, at times, dal (without salt). Cooked rice is easily available (without salt) in Puttaparthi and at decent price.
I could use the rice cooker(s) for cooking vegetables and dal. That's when I need a timer control box to auto switch off the cooker after some time. This would make it safe even if I have some serious health issue while cooking is going on.
EMbox 1500 W Automatic Power Cut Off Timer Socket with Programmable Countdown Control Switch (White), https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07BMZPZGQ/ costing Rs.599 is a very interesting item in this regard. It is quite affordable and has a 10 day return period. The 1.5KW wattage is more than enough for my two rice cookers (500W and 300W).
Any suggestions from readers who know about solutions in this regard, are welcome.
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Some comments of mine from the Facebook post are given below, some of which are slightly edited. To see the whole comment conversation, please visit the Facebook post link given earlier.
Thanks for your suggestions. I would like to have some self-reliance on the minimum level of cooking I may need to do. If things get to a point where I cannot do even that minimum level of cooking I will surely consider hiring somebody to do that cooking.
I don't have a mixer/blender. I could buy one but let me see if I can manage without it. I like to keep my stuff to a minimum, especially cooking related stuff.
About being young still 😀😀😀: Well Eve, I am close to 60 years of age. At 60, I will officially become a senior citizen as per Govt. of India norms. So now I am not young but very-close-to-senior-citizen!
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thanks. I want to explore extending what i hv and if that does not work, consider options like induction cooktop with timer.
Eventually I bought an induction cooktop with timer, which was your suggestion (and that of some others). Thanks again for your valuable input, Sudha. I have put up a post related to this: Have now got an auto shutoff pressure cooker cooking setup with induction cooktop at economical cost, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3410635365819683 .
[On PC desktop, to open pic in larger resolution (if available), right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]
Just made a cup of tea and used my 0.6 litre electric rice cooker for boilin the water.
Checked if it auto switches off when all water in it boils and is gone. It switched off automatically. That was good to see. So electric rice cookers may do auto switchoff when a variety of things are cooked in it.
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i do take fruit. Cocunut water is to be avoided as per diet prescribed. So is potato. But almost all other veggies are recommended which i think includes carrot and cabbage. Incidentally now i am cooking cabbage on gas as my maid is present. Quaker oats is something i plan to check up on as to whether its ok for me as per diet restrictions. Thanks
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Cabbage getting cooked at low flame on gas stove
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Thanks for your suggestion. To make things somewhat complicated, I have a very weak digestive system. So I can handle only well cooked veggies.
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Thanks. Will bear that in mind. Will try to strike a compromise between my poor digestion ability and keeping vitamins in the veggies when I cook them.
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In response to comment: "Use instant pot
https://www.instanthome.com/products/8571/instant-pot...
It is very less supervision needed and it can cook almost anything. There is a Facebook group also for Indian cooking with instant pot. You have up just follow the steps. Super easy!!!", I wrote:
Thanks. I had come across some Instant Pot products as I was browsing the Internet shopping sites for electric cooking products. Now that you have suggested it, I will have a closer look at them.
Will also ask --- about this.
I must also say I was quite surprised to see a comment from you, --name-snipped--. I think this is the first comment you have made on my Facebook posts. Great!
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Have joined the above group (join request is pending approval).... Msgd --- about our exchange about InstantPot. She said she will call me later.
Very interesting that you read my Facebook posts. Thanks for sharing that info.🙂
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An update: I discussed the possibility of buying and using Instant Pot cooking device in Puttaparthi with --- over phone call. Her regular vendor for such stuff said that some people in Mumbai who have used the device in USA, buy the device for use in Mumbai.
Follow up questions are about support and usage in rural/semi-urban India with voltage fluctuations. --- is going to check/get a response from her vendor for these.
Meanwhile I checked out Instant Pot India customer contact for service. I think their Facebook page, email and Instagram seems to be their main customer contact mechanisms. But no phone number, as far as I could see.
A little while back, I sent them the following message:
Hi, Two questions:
1) Does Instant Pot provide service in somewhat remote places in India like Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh (around 2 to 2.5 hours from Bangalore), where I live? In particular, if the device breaks down and has to be repaired does Instant Pot send service engineers to somewhat remote places like Puttaparthi?
2) The area where I live has lot of voltage fluctuations and also high voltage at times, which I think is quite common in rural and semi-urban parts of India (urban parts of India like Mumbai would be having good quality electricity with less voltage issues). Does Instant Pot require a voltage stabilizer for use in rural and semi-urban India (where electricity has lot of voltage fluctuations)?
Ravi S. Iyer, Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, India
---- end msg sent to Instant Pot India FB page ---
Let's see if they give a response to above two questions. That will give us an idea of company level service facility that Instant Pot in India has.
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BTW Amazon India sells Instant Pot device(s) ...
I found this model to be rather popular: Instant Pot 321 Stainless Steel 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker, And Warmer, 6 Qt, Black., https://www.amazon.in/Instant-Pot-Multi-Use-Programmable-Pressure/dp/B00FLYWNYQ/ costing around Rs.10,000.
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Oh! Just saw that above amazon India page lists a toll free customer contact number: 1800 123 2700 . I will call that just now and ask them the above queries.
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I spoke to --name-snipped-- customer service representative on 1800 123 2700, and she kindly answered my above queries.
Key points of our conversation:
1) Instant Pot has customer service in cities across India. For remote places like Puttaparthi, customer service is provided through visits by service engineer to residence of customer, free of charge! That seems to be hard to believe but perhaps that applies for the 1 year warranty period.
2) After warranty period, any customer service engineer visit will be for minimum charge - around Rs.500. Once again, for remote Puttaparthi, I am not sure whether that applies. But even if they charge a little higher but still send their service engineer after warranty to fix any problems with the device, that will be great.
3) She was not able to definitively answer my question on whether voltage stabilizer would be needed. When I told her I use microwave and electric rice cooker without stablizer, she said that then I should be able to use Instant Pot without voltage stabilizer.
I asked her whether she knows of customers in rural areas outside Bangalore (she told me that most of their customers are in Bangalore and Hyderabad) who use their device and whether they use voltage stabilizer with it.
She said she did not know of any such voltage stabilizer usage with their device.
She very confidently said that I can buy their product on amazon India (I confirmed that its the same model as on amazon page I shared earlier - Instant Pot 321 for Rs.9,999) and that I can contact them if there is any problem.
4) She said that after I buy the product, I should call her so that she can arrange a virtual video call with a service representative who will explain to me about how to use the product.
5) She said that the device is compatible with Indian electrical system (230 V) and so no step-down/step-up convertor is needed in India to use the device.
--- end of main points of call ---
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Couple of issues ...What if there is a powercut when one is using Instapot?
I googled for it and found that people have looked at this issue!!! https://simplelifesaver.com/heres-what-to-do-if-power-went-out-while-using-instant-pot/
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Puttaparthi has lot of power cuts and so this is an issue for me. The InstaPot does not remember where it was when power was lost unlike Samsung Washing Machine which remembers the main task (wash/rinse/spin) it was doing when power was lost and restarts from that task (begins that task from start if I recall correctly).
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Another issue that struck me now was about difficulty in training maid or cook-helper in puttaparthi to use Instant Pot. Maids and cook-helpers in Puttaparthi are familiar with pressure cookers and know at least something about induction stove. It will be quite easy to get them to, if and when required, independently cook using pressure cooker on induction stove/cooktop but it will be virtually impossible to get them to independently cook using Instant Pot, at present. Note that many such persons cannot read English.
Therefore i think i should consider buying InstaPot only when its usage becomes well known in Puttaparthi and so maids and cook-helpers know about operating such devices.
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Thanks for sharing what you do. Interesting options. About the eating out part: I am currently in a reclusive kind of mode from a spiritual sadhana perspective and so I am eating only in my home now (except when I go out for hospital follow up visits). The catering of part of the meals (which I can ask them to make as saltless) with a nearby (local Puttaparthi) family is an interesting option.
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Thanks for your comment, ---. I think the ashram South Indian and North Indian canteens are open. However, I need home delivery - I live outside the ashram (on Chitravathi Road), and so opt for outside ashram Puttaparthi restaurants.
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2) Used Pressure cooker on gas when maid was present to cook beans only; Did further cooking of beans in rice cooker and checked that it auto switches off after veggies are cooked
Given below are contents, including my comments, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0wiXMyuAkGhyPYqnH1kzYXMTbkj47HQv8dGTqgMibnEYbA8FGJ3ffoGvTj7cEanHjl , 5th June 2022:
Pressure cooker cooks fast. If i had cooked the beans directly in the electric rice cooker it would have taken longer. Note that I need the veggies (beans in this case) to be well cooked as my digestive system is a little weak.
A little while later after maid had finished other work, i asked her to transfer contents of pressure cooker to 0.6 litre rice cooker, and then wash pressure cooker before she leaves.
She did that and left. Then (now i was alone in flat) I cut an onion, got some garlic cloves (onion and garlic are strongly recommended for me by medics), added haldi, dhaniya powder, jeera powder, and hing powder to rice cooker vessel and put it on cook mode. Had also added some Kadi patta (curry leaves) and cut ginger pieces.
Attached pic shows veggies fully cooked in rice cooker.
I wanted to check auto switch off function. As i had not added oil, some stuff was sticking to the bottom of rice cooker vessel when i stirred its contents. I should have added oil along with other stuff. Will do so from next time.
I added 1 teaspoon oil at this late stage, stirred contents and waited to see if rice cooker would auto switch off. It did 😃😃😃 - see next attached pic.
Above veggies are saltless. Today the restaurant people forgot to make saltless items for me in my mini-meals order. So above saltless veggies will help me to make my dinner somewhat low salt.
Leftover veggies will go to fridge and be taken at morning breakfast time after reheating in microwave.
So I am now getting into the groove for cooking saltless and low oil veggies within my health limitations and in safe way (gas only when somebody else is present or will shortly be coming at which time I keep the flat door unlocked; otherwise using auto switch off cooking devices only). I wanted to share that with readers/friends. Thanks for the encouragement and tips from many readers/friends. They were very useful.
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Some comments of mine from the Facebook post are given below, some of which are slightly edited. To see the whole comment conversation, please visit the Facebook post link given earlier.
Well, I was in a bad shape some hours after heart attack (in Jan. 2022) when I was gasping for breath. It is the doctors and other medical staff of Swami's hospitals who treated me and helped me recover to this stage. I am continuing with their treatment and their treatment has some diet restrictions which I try to follow, especially low salt and limited liquid intake specifications.
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Ragi porridge requires stirring continuously, otherwise lumps get formed, based on my limited Ragi cooking experience. That's an issue for me for morning breakfast when I need something that will cook fast.
As of now, I usually take Idli sambhar delivered from restaurant.
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i do not eat meat or eggs or fish.
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I plan to look up vegetarian sources of Vitamin B12 and the latter's role in nutrition needs of people.
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https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320524#vegetarian-foods says that Yogurt has Vitamin B12. I take fair amount of Yogurt every day. As a South Indian Brahmin guy yogurt & rice (thair chadam in Tamil) is a staple food for me.
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I am a spiritual aspirant vegetarian survival-cook 😀. Earlier I knew how to do such survival cooking with gas. Now I am migrating that knowledge to auto shut off devices cooking (plus gas cooking when somebody is present or will be shortly coming).
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Thanks for sharing about your experience with Dr. Rao Ayurvedic treatment. As of now, I am limiting myself to allopathic medicines and managing my food needs under prescribed diet limitations (as far as possible), and natural food supplements (like walnuts). Later I plan to explore alternative medicine systems (ayurveda and homeopathy) to improve my heart functioning.
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Saw the video. It is interesting but also a little complex. Thanks.
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The diet specifications I got are related to Indian food and so easier for me to follow. Veggies are heavily recommended and onion, garlic and ginger are heavily recommended. Fruits are recommended.
Ragi, wheat are recommended. Polished cereals like rice are advised to be taken in combination with ragi/wheat.
However, I think they understand Indian diet aspects and so rice for lunch and chapatti (wheat based) for dinner is OK even if ragi+rice would be more preferrable.
For me as a single spiritual aspirant, I don't want to get too much into cooking as that would suck up too much of my time. I want to strike a balance between Puttaparthi restaurant food and little supplementary cooking (like saltless and steamed veggies with less oil), along with fruits and stuff like walnuts (and perhaps flax seed as I learn more about it). This gives me the compromise I need. Clearly my focus is my spiritual sadhana of Japa-Dhyana (chanting & meditation) which I have increased significantly post heart-attack. Too much cooking would impact my japa-dhyana time which I want to avoid.
To put it in short, I want to follow a semi-sannyasi (semi monk not fully monk😀) type lifestyle and in India, sannyasis typically don't cook and rely on food provided by local people where the sannyasi is based or is visiting. So mostly local food plus fruits plus little bit of cooking is what I think suits me from a semi-sannyasi who is a heart patient perspective. Thanks.
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In my comment, I was referring not so much to diet but to time taken for full blown cooking which would eat into time for japam-dhyanam.
Will see the other video.
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And yes, Puttaparthi is a good place to do spiritual sadhana. People are generally encouraging of spiritual sadhana and also one can choose to be reclusive with limited physical interaction.
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Very interesting to know flax seed's history as a healthy food since ancient times. Will surely explore using flax seed.
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I just mentioned some details in a comment in a comment thread above, which applies to this comment too. You just liked that and so I know your read it.
But I should say that it is NOT hard for me to be alone ...
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I am very comfortable being alone, as that is really great for the spiritual sadhana I do.
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I am NOT afraid of death at all but I want to strongly avoid being dependent on others for my bodily needs, and I also currently have limited ability to face pain and related suffering.
I have intensified my japam-dhyanam which hopefully will increase my ability to tolerate any bodily pain and suffering.
Further, it will be great if I am able to reach a level in my japam-dhyanam where I can go beyond body consciousness (which I have never been able to do so far). Essentially, I want to be able to go beyond body consciousness at will. I have no idea whether I will be able to achieve or even get close to achieving that. But if I do achieve that, then it will be a great thing.
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In my case, I am convinced that I am the changeless awareness and that this awareness is part of a great cosmic awareness which is the ultimate divine power that created the universe, sustains it and will eventually absorb it into itself. This is from Hindu scripture and Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba also said quite similar things, if not the same. But he also said God is Love etc. and that God responds to prayer and helps devotees etc.
For me now, the issue is that my experience of divine awareness is very limited. Yes, I can feel it within me and feel that it is unchanging and ever peaceful. But I am limited to this body - so far at least, I have not been able to transcend my body consciousness/limitations. Further, I am vulnerable to physical pain and suffering. Those are limitations that bother me now, and I would like very much to go beyond those limitations which some mystics claim to have gone beyond and which I believe to be true.
I also believe that as one transcends body consciousness and evolves further spiritually, one gets to know past births, karma etc. Note that Hindu scripture talks of enlightened people knowing about such matters.
Perhaps there is a heaven kind of place, perhaps there are spirit worlds with guardian angels and spirit masters/teachers (like the one Nancy Rynes had in her NDE), and perhaps all is love. But, as of now, they are not so much of interest for me. My main interest is to go beyond the body consciousness and become free of body limitations.
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3) Have now got an auto shutoff pressure cooker cooking setup with induction cooktop at economical cost
Given below are contents, including my comments if any, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02w7ghQ2WUh49uXZ23ENfzd1NRqrRmzjyGA8G5htFT5rz4dmfo9oitcmZS4GqdJWxFl , 13th June 2022:
This post follows up on my post: Cooking safely when alone and one has illness; Suggestions welcome, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3401154546767765 , 31st May 2022
I first bought a 2 Litre Hawkins pressure cooker which works on induction stove/cooktop and gas, https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B00IA4A03K/ , for which I paid around Rs.1600.
I got delivery of it on 9th June. With lid it weighs around 1.55 kg. Without lid it is 1.16 kg.
I think it is heavier than is usual for small pressure cooker due to heavy base support for cooking on induction cooktop.
Some pics including comparison pics with my old 5.5 litre non-induction Prestige pressure cooker, are attached.
Without lid, 2 Litre pressure cooker wt is 1.16 kg.
2 Litre and 5.5 Litre pressure cookers.
Note 2 in right edge of above pic from manual instructs that moong dal should NOT be cooked in 2L and 3L models.
I first cooked veggies on this pressure cooker on my LPG (gas) connection (note that this pressure cooker works on both gas and induction cooktop). It worked well. It takes less than 15 minutes to cook radish.
I am skipping some details like discoloration in trial run which got solved by using 1 teaspoon of lime juice in cooking water in later run. But one important detail is that the manual says that moong dal should not be cooked in this model (2 litres) and in the 3 litres model.
Once the small pressure cooker part of the cooking arrangement was in place, I looked at and bought this induction cooktop of TTK Prestige. It is not high wattage model (max 1600 watt I think and I am OK with that). https://www.amazon.in/Prestige-PIC-20-Induction-Cooktop/dp/B00YMJ0OI8/ . model: It meets my needs (it has a manual pdf which I read to confirm the timer part as well as pressure cooker setting). I paid Rs.1909 for it and got delivery of it yesterday, 12th June. Some pics of it are attached.
Later, yesterday itself, I cooked veggies - radish & onion with garlic, ginger, curry leaves, haldi, dhaniya, jeera and hing powder (no salt) - in container kept in 2 Litre pressure cooker, with the pressure cooker placed on Prestige induction cooktop. The radish had been refrigerated and so would have required more cooking time.
I started cooking with pressure cooker on Induction Cooktop with settings of 1400 W (default setting when Pressure cooker button is pressed) and timer of 12 mins. I first pressed pressure cooker button in Induction Cooktop at which time the main display showed 1400 W and then I pressed timer which showed 0:00 time (if I recall correctly). Clicking on + 12 times made it 0:12 (if I recall correctly).
As it was cooking, the induction cooktop timer counted down from 0:12 (minutes). The display alternates between showing Wattage (1400 then) and remaining time. I think it alternates every 5 to 7 seconds or so.
After around 4 minutes, the pressure cooker gave its first whistle. The timer had come down to 8 mins. [After this, as per Hawkins cooker manual, I am to set the cooking heat to low (on gas, medium or low flame). On induction cooktop I need to change wattage.]
Then I set Induction Cooktop to low power of 100 W by pressing - button repeatedly. [I think I set it to too low. Maybe I should have set it to 500 W or 300 W.]
After around 1 min 30 secs to 2 mins of cooking after first whistle, I put Induction Cooktop switch to off but mains power switch was left on. Note that Hawkins pressure cooker manual advises cooking time in minutes and not whistles (as it says that for its model, whistles count can be misleading). During this period pressure cooker gave 2 more whistles. In off mode Induction Cooktop's fan seemed to be operating (as the device made fan type noise) and main display alternated/blinked between -- -- and no display/light shown.
After a minute or so, the fan noise from cooktop stopped, immediately after which i switched off the mains power.
So this cooking round took around 6 minutes of cooking of pressure cooker followed by around 1 minute for Induction Cooktop fan to stop.
However, after steam had been released and I opened the pressure cooker to check the veggies, I found that they needed more cooking.
So I put the veggies back in pressure cooker and cooked with timer set at 4 minutes. Now the first whistle (at 1400 W) was before 2 minutes (perhaps as the cooker contents were somewhat warm to start with). I lowered wattage to 500 Watts now (not 100 Watts). I tried changing the timer but the + and - were only changing Wattage, even when the display was showing remaining time (in minutes; does not have seconds display for remaining time). Perhaps I should have pressed Timer again and then + or - to change set time - will try that later.
I did not manually switch off the Induction Cooktop. I confirmed that when the timer ran down to 0, the Induction Cooktop automatically switched off (the heating). The fan noise continued for a minute or so after which that too stopped.
This time around the veggies had been cooked well.
So total time Hawkins pressure cooker was being used to cook on Induction CookTop was 7 mins + 4 mins i.e. 11 mins. Next time around I will lower the wattage from 1400 to 500 after 1st whistle and then cook radish for 3 to 4 minutes (at 500 Watts) (instead of what I did today in first round with 1 min. 30 secs to 2 minutes on 100 Watts cooking). So I think in around 9 to 10 minutes this quantity of radish (refrigerated and so cold) + onions + ... will get cooked in pressure cooker on Induction Cooktop. For me, that is a very good (short) time period for veggies cooking. Initially I will set the timer to 12 minutes which is little later than required, and manually switch it off when cooking is done. But note that the auto shutoff safety feature would be there (2 to 3 minutes after expected cooking time). Later I may set it to close to exact cooking time (9 mins or 10 mins or whatever it is), in which case I don't even have to manually switch off the Induction Cooktop.
I also used a steel flat bottom pan to heat some water (at heat milk setting of 1600 Watts). It heated the water at close to cooking gas speed. Note that this vessel is not especially designed for induction cooktop.
As copper bottom vessels and aluminium bottom vessels are listed in the Induction Cooktop manual as vessels that should NOT be used on it, I plan to not use such vessels on Induction Cooktop.
Overall, yesterday's trials were a success. Not only was I able to do pressure cooker cooking on Induction Cooktop with auto shutoff timer setting, but also use steel flat bottom pan to heat water (with timer auto shutoff setting). I think this meets my basic needs of auto shutoff safety for cooking when alone in my flat at good cooking efficiency.
Three interesting alternative cooking devices I considered were:
a) Instant Pot 321 Stainless Steel 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker, And Warmer, 6 Qt, Black., https://www.amazon.in/Instant-Pot-Multi-Use-Programmable-Pressure/dp/B00FLYWNYQ/ costing around Rs.10,000.
b) Wonderchef Nutri-Pot Electric Pressure Cooker with 7-in-1 Functions, 3L, https://www.amazon.in/Wonderchef-63153102-Nutri-Pot-3L/dp/B07ZRZTDJY , costing around Rs.6000 but sometimes sold around Rs.5000 (same above page/link has shown both prices to me today itself!).
c) Geek Robocook Glam 3 litre Automatic Electric Pressure Cooker with Non Stick Pot, https://www.amazon.in/dp/B08CNDCNM7/ , costing around Rs.5000.
I think these automatic electric pressure cookers (and more for a & b) functionality was very attractive for my needs. The first stumbling block was that I could not find anybody in Puttaparthi who is using them and so can provide feedback on any voltage fluctuation related issue for these devices (Puttaparthi power has lot of voltage fluctuations) and about service & support from the associated companies all of whom seem to be less known companies as compared to well established companies like Hawkins and TTK (Prestige induction cooktop company). The second stumbling block was that for at least a & b devices, I felt it would be very difficult to train maid(s) and cooking-helper(s) to use the devices, if needed, as these devices seem to be relatively unknown in Puttaparthi.
So I felt that while the above devices are all very interesting for my needs, I should wait till they get used by some people in Puttaparthi whom I know and maids and cooking-helpers are somewhat familiar with operating these devices. I mean, in contrast, the 2 Litre pressure cooker I have will be no problem at all for maids & cooking-helpers to operate, and they may need minimal training to use the induction cooktop (without using timer facility).
Thanks to the many readers who provided suggestions and other comments on my previous posts related to this matter, which has helped me to arrive at this auto shut off safe cooking solution.
Given below are contents, including my comments if any, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0rpbJ43poRKa8GiAudzCkQQcAS2G9VPUqWSWEDUUZ6FSgWriN7WUAbuiyXcph67Q6l , 21st August 2022
I was wondering whether I should put up this post. On thinking about it, I felt that it may be of some use to some reader(s) now or in future, who are in the same situation as me, and for some health issue they face, are exploring ways to cook simple vegetarian South Indian lunch & dinner using pressure cooker but without lifting weight beyond 1.3 kg.
I expect this set of posts to come to a close soon. I am trying to get to a stage where I can, once a day, comfortably cook rice, vegetables and dal/sambhar which I can digest without too much difficulty. That is a good self-reliance goal to achieve for a sadhaka like me, even if I have underlying health issues like cardiac disease.
Today's cooking of lunch & dinner. ...
Now I do not stretch myself too far. When there is some discomfort like breathlessness, I take a break. Also, I try to limit the weight I lift during cooking (and also otherwise) to 1.2 to 1.3 kg as I find that's the weight I can handle without too much difficulty.
Today there was a power cut in outside ashram Puttaparthi from sometime in the morning till noon though it was not known how long the powercut would be (somebody had said till 2 PM or so). So my cooking today was on LPG (gas) without any timed auto shutdown safety. But I kept the front door open while the gas was on, so that, if required, neighbours/others could easily step into my flat and turn off the gas.
Some pics and captions related to the cooking are attached.
Tur dal + water going into middle separator vessel. It weight is 495 grams. The 495 grams shown in display is not clear in this compressed pic. My apologies.
Rice + water going to bottom vessel. At this stage (without veggies and addl. water) its weight is 509 grams.
After veggies and some more water are added to bottom vessel with rice, its weight increases to 751 grams.
The bottom vessel + middle vessel + lid but without stand&lifter weighs 1364 grams.
Adding the stand&lifter makes the weight 1545 grams. 1.5 kg lifting and putting into cooker was something that I was not comfortable with. Today I did it (and later I removed it from cooker). It did not cause any significant issue but it goes into a range which I feel is not appropriate for me to lift on a regular basis.
After removing middle container with cooked dal from cooker. BTW yesterday's khichadi caused some excess gas. I later noticed that the moong dal had not got cooked properly. One advantage of cooking dal separately is that one can easily check whether the dal has become soft (and so cooked well).
The bottom container with cooked rice & veggies
I checked that the dal had become soft and mashed it with a ladle.
Then added tamarind water + sambar powder and boiled it in saucepan on induction cooktop (as electric power had been restored). And I used the timer to ensure timed auto shutdown safety.
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Had lunch and it tasted good. The sambar seemed to have well cooked dal in it (tamarind was on slightly higher side but not a big issue). The rice + veggies were also good. Leftovers went into fridge for dinner (and for small snack in early evening too).
That completes today's cooking account. Overall it was successful except for 1.5 kg weight of separator vessels with stand & lifter. That I will try to fix next time.
One solution for this problem that I plan to try is to not use the stand & lifter of the separator vessels set. Instead I will use Grid of 2 L pressure cooker (5 L cooker did not come with grid and 5.5 L pressure cooker's grid is too large for 5 L cooker). First I will place the grid inside the cooker (which will have some 450 ml of water) and then place the bottom vessel first on top of grid. Next I will place the middle vessel and lid, on top of bottom vessel. This way max weight I will be lifting at any one time will be less than 1 kg.
I don't think that using these vessels without stand (and with grid) will be an issue as there is not enough room for these vessels to tilt too much inside the cooker.
For removing the vessels from the cooker once the cooking is done, I will once again be lifting one vessel at a time (using a spoon to raise the lid and then using tongs to lift the lid and later vessels one at a time and move them outside the cooker).
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13) Today's cooking using grid and separator vessels without stand&lifter thus limiting weight to be lifted to 1.2 kg with one unexpected exception
Given below are contents, including my comments if any, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02W2aqi12Xqfx7FqAXA7QxKzsuBv9tqqPyR7NtwdzaDKEoKsCpV5ovS3Nkyrr1FQnkl , 22nd August 2022
Pics attached with captions.
Tur dal part is only 549 gms
Tongs - Iduki in Tamil - is 240 gms
Grid placed in cooker
Tur dal vessel put on top of bottom vessel. Then i put the lid on tur dal vessel.
Cooking is going on with timed auto shutdown safety on induction cooktop. Settings used are 1000 Watts and 20 mins, with wattage lowered after 1st whistle to 300 watts.
After around 8 mins 1st whistle sounded. After total of 15 mins of cooking (around 7 mins after 1st whistle and on low wattage of 300 watts), 4 additional whistles had sounded. I switched off cooktop. Later after cooker had cooled i opened it - see pic.
I was able to easily lift lid of separator vessel with a spoon and then using the iduki, lift lid and vessels from cooker.
Grid and remaining water in cooker
Weight of heaviest vessel and tongs is less than 1.1 kg
But cooker main vessel and grid and remaining water was 1.5 kg! I had not realized that earlier. As i needed to use the cooktop for final stage of sambar like soup cooking, i had to remove cooker main vessel from cooktop. This time i lifted it not knowing that it crossed my 1.2 to 1.3 kg. limit.
Next time i will just slide it from cooktop to stand kept next to cooktop. So that will avoid the 1.5 kg lifting issue.
Additional cooking for Sambar like soup was for around 5 mins, initially at 1000 watts and after boiling started around 1 min after cooking, at reduced wattage of 300 watts.
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Concluding remarks: At lunch the taste was good enough for me. So this trial has been a success, except for lifting of pressure cooker main vessel with water crossing my 1.2 kg limit and which lifting I will avoid the next time.
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14) Today's cooking with variation of 3 separator vessels; 2 Litre cooker grid being small may have contributed to tilting of 2 separator vessels during cooking
Given below are contents, including my comments if any, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0faiaxo6FfC2Z4ffKPV58ZgbSsd7cjFAT6XoszAVaazd7Wa1Ui2VLhovcVeUgXjGrl , 23rd August 2022
Note that I did not use stand-cum-lifter of separator vessel set as that requires me to lift all three separator vessels with their contents together, and whose weight exceeds the 1.2 to 1.3 kg limit that I have placed, given my health issue.
Please see pics and captions attached below.
Cooker with 2 L grid (small one).
Bottom one with rice, middle wuth tur dal and top with veggies and mild masala. This was comfortable to do including placing in cooker. Weight. of each separator vessel with contents was not much. I did not measure it but I think it would be less than 1 kg each.
Cooking going on. Cooking seems to have taken a little longer than yesterday but i am not sure if i set the initial timer to 20 mins. I had to cook for around 1 minute more than initial setting. So it seems to have been around 21 mins cooking for 1 whistle on 1000 watts + 4 whistles on low 300 watts.
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Discussed with cleaning maid when she came later. She suggested having rice separator on top. I think I will try that tomorrow. That way even if there is tilting, the rice in top separator vessel will not have any other stuff mixed in it, even if some rice spills to cooker bottom and gets wasted.
So plan is that tomorrow I will use 5.5 L grid and have veggies in bottom separator, tur dal in middle separator and rice in top separator. Let's see how that works out.
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15) Today's cooking with 5.5 L grid and 3 separator vessels in 5 L Prestige pressure cooker on induction cooktop with timed auto-shutdown safety
Given below are contents, including my comments if any, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0Pbxof8cGiGzqEEKmnKoqt3vQjX7iQWSc5WNb6p1mNQMxGRsoQRUoTWGBU4jD6JCMl , 24th August 2022
Please see pics and captions below.
3 separator vessels and its contents, with lid
Just to show that if I use separator stand-cum-lifter, it crosses my 1.2 to 1.3 kg lifting limit. 3 separator vessels with contents and lid weights 1.7 kg.
5.5 L grid in 5 L cooker with some water
3 separator vessels placed on top of grid and used without stand-cum-lifter. Bottom vessel has veggies, middle has tur dal and top has rice.
Cooking starts at 1000 Watts
Cooking time setting is 22 minutes.
Added whistle after I saw little steam coming out of cooker whistle holder around 4 to 5 mins after start, if I recall correctly.
1st whistle sounded when timer showed 10 mins (so after around 12 mins of cooking), at which time I reduced heat to 300 Watts.
4 additional whistles took up not only remaining time of 22 minute setting but needed an additional around 3 mins. So pressure cooker total cooking time was around 25 mins.
Top vessel with rice
Middle vessel with Tur dal
Bottom vessel with veggies and mild masala
Some rice had spilled over.
I think some rice getting wasted as spillover may be unavoidable at times. Though I cannot figure out how the rice spilled over from top vessel unless the rice foamed so much that it lifted the lid and so some rice spilled over.
Grid raised to show amount of rice spilled over.
Grid moved to other side to show earlier pic's covered side of cooker bottom
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As covered in earlier posts, made sambar like soup using mashed Tur dal, tamarind water and sambar powder which were cooked for around 5 minutes on induction cooktop. As mentioned in earlier post, sliding the pressure cooker main vessel, grid and remaining water from cooktop to stand kept next to cooktop, was no problem (no lifting of weight involved)
Had lunch but did not eat rice as there was left over ragi mudda from breakfast (home cooked breakfast is provided by a lady who lives nearby). The taste was good enough for me. Leftovers have gone to fridge for dinner. Note that I add curd which I buy as packed curd.
I think today's cooking method seems to be a good method to follow in future for my simple vegetarian South Indian lunch and dinner cooking with lifting of weight limited to 1.2 to 1.3 kg, and when electric power is present, using timed auto-shutdown safety.
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16) Rice spillover problem of yesterday's cooking, fixed in today's cooking with rice kept in bottom separator
Given below are contents, including my comments if any, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02jZ9nPNt4HXkLnETTH3XfoKkj64gkYiteLfayfKqtE9m9sNLxg7UoAHnuinWKm9FFl , 25th August 2022
This post follows up on yesterday's cooking post: Today's cooking with 5.5 L grid and 3 separator vessels in 5 L Prestige pressure cooker on induction cooktop with timed auto-shutdown safety, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02TKkzsSWNP9PP6tNddjTNu5RJwUQkcs9xkhcRLXeYy6GqXJuvafCvWQjEK6J3m9LSl , where there was a rice spillover problem.
I thought about it and felt that keeping rice in the top separator vessel contributed to the problem. The rice and water would have foamed while being cooked and that foam would have lifted the lid, and spilled over into the cooker.
So today I kept the rice in bottom container (separator vessel), tur dal in middle and veggies in top container. The weight of the top two containers would, I presume, inhibit the rice and water foam from lifting the two containers (and then spilling over). Also as this time the grid (5.5 L) was a large and proper fit, I felt that I will not have container tilt problem which I had faced when using this arrangement with small 2 L grid.
I also did not add any water to the veggies and did not place a lid on top of veggies separator vessel (top separator).
The cooking went off well without any separator tilt problem. The rice spillover was very minimal and so can be ignored. I think this very minimal amount of rice may have come out of the two holes towards the top of the separator vessel.
The quantity of tur dal is much lesser than yesterday and the rice quantity is also less. But I think the normal quantity that I use as shown in previous posts which is good enough for lunch and dinner for me, will also not be a problem, in terms of separator tilt and/or rice spillover into cooker main vessel.
The pics and captions give some details.
Stuff to be cooked.
Another angle to show size of containers
Rice container in bottom, Tur dal in middle and veggies on top. Separator lid was not placed on top of veggies separator.
Cooking starts at 1000 Watts and 22 minutes setting.
17) Decided to stop everyday cooking and have hired cooking help/maid
Given below are contents, including my comments if any, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02W1Afn1hAeehfWJpCoaP9mKp3q1bmnYrXx4zC7M5ivqQdSx57bsKbAUMNT8poKMGul , 28th August 2022
Given that I have been putting up many posts on cooking simple meals in the recent past, I felt it appropriate to share this with readers.
I am finding that everyday cooking of lunch and dinner (at one time in late morning) is not appropriate for me to do, given my health condition.
So I have hired somebody for cooking/cooking-help. As I have good experience now of cooking lunch and dinner simple meals with limited effort and lifting of weight limited to 1.2 kg, and with timed auto shutdown safety, I can also teach or instruct a maid on how to do it. But I will be asking the cooking maid to provide me regular South Indian vegetarian meals rather than my limited meals when I was cooking over past few days. And the maid need not use timed auto shutdown safety and need not have 1.2 kg lifting of weight limit. I think she will be using the LPG gas stove for cooking and can use separator stand-cum-lifter and separator vessels in pressure cooker.
And for whatever reason (like the cooking maid not coming that day), if I have to cook simple lunch & dinner on any day, I can do that in a timed auto-shutdown safe way with lifting of weight limited to 1.2 kg. I mean, once in a while cooking simple meals should be OK for me health-wise, I think. It is regular cooking that seems to put too much load on me, given my health issues.
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My comments (slightly edited) in above Facebook post:
--- Sairam sir, well said. I agree. Thanks.
...
Thanks --- for your valuable views.
...
--- Thanks for your suggestion. I considered Instapot but felt that it would be too complex for most cooking helps/maids in Puttaparthi to handle, as of now at least (as Instapot is rare in Puttaparthi). So I settled on induction cooktop and pressure cooker combo.
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18) Nice small and light 0.5 litre electric kettle with auto-shutdown safety for boiling water (which could be used for tea, coffee etc.)
Given below are contents, including my comments if any, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid02HSY99sAb2R84J2kvikBXFVYdvycEtv8XNNvCUsXddo8547MN8vtSCJBFfnk1xDGXl , 28th August 2022
Inalsa Cute 0.5-Litre Electric Travel Kettle With 2 Cups (Silver), standard, https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B0747VRX4D/ , today's price: Rs.1045. When I ordered a few days ago on 28th August 2022, I paid Rs.949.
The sale page states, "Equipped with Auto - Shut off, Steam Sensor and boil dry protection technology, this electric kettle has a multi-safety system(. )The handle has a non-slip and a heat resistant design". I tested the auto-shut off when water has boiled with lid kept on and it worked with the device shutting off once the water had boiled. I think I need to test it when I have not put on the lid. Plan to do it sometime at which time I will update this post.
I understand boil dry protection to be the kettle not heating when there is no water (or other stuff) inside it (in other words its inside vessel is dry). I have not tested that as it may not be so relevant to my needs but it is good that it has (claims to have) that safety feature as well.
I bought the above 0.5 litre portable electric kettle to use in auto shutdown safe way especially at late night or early morning to have cup of hot water or tea or coffee. Note that induction cooktop when used makes some noise due to fan inside it which continues on for 1 minute after heating is stopped, to cool the hot plate.
So I was hesitant to use induction cooktop for this purpose at night.
The portable 0.5 litre electric kettle is a nice device weighing only around 550 grams.
I think it does its job very well. The pics and captions give the details.
Weighs 543 grams
Shows how small it is.
Poured around 160 ml of water (my max tea/coffee drink volume) in kettle and started heating along with timer. I did not place the lid so i could see water start boiling at which time i could switch off kettle.
Note that the kettle has auto switch off ability on water reaching boiling point which i confirmed works with lid put on. But i do not need the water to get that hot.
Water is starting to boil.
Water has boiled (to extent i need). Kettle is switched off (done manually by me) - red indicator light is off. Time kettle was on is 56 seconds. So it takes around 1 minute to heat this amt of water.
Hot water is poured in steel glass.
A video upload on this post did not work. But I was able to upload it as a separate video post here (video put up below on this blog post) : https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/videos/619595016358915 .
This is a video post associated with this Facebook post: Nice small and light 0.5 litre electric kettle with auto-shutdown safety for boiling water (which could be used for tea, coffee etc.), https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0Dodsb6SpMS5tQxoLzxkMea6m1MQ5cjkPtkx5y4B53dB7wd1Au2uoXhBtBdytX5Tol .
I had problems loading the video in the above post but was able to put it up as a separate post here.
I used small amount of water (very little) in this video. Note that you hear some Ganapati music in the background in this video as I think some pandal near to my flat was playing that music when I was taking the video, yesterday night around 9.15 PM.
The electric kettle itself does not make any noise. The noise starts when the water starts boiling. I think that water boiling noise part would be similar to noise when using a vessel on induction cooktop.
The difference is that there is no fan noise.
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19) My recent experience of cooking saltless, less oil and well cooked food using pressure cooker or steamer helps me to guide cooking help/maid; Faced pressure cooker safety valve burst for first time in my life
Given below are contents, including my comments if any, of my Facebook post with above title, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/pfbid0EFKicBiC26wCTrhnjyfzafA2FDnHbqRf1jUWG3R4fVEfhKutwaKvm1WNrDKfWRv4l , 28th August 2022
This is a short update on my home food arrangement. As mentioned earlier, I now have a maid that cooks lunch and dinner for me, as per my needs.
My recent experience of cooking saltless and less oil food with food being well cooked, and using auto shutdown safety, which I had shared on Facebook & blog, helped me in instructing the maid how to do this cooking. Note that maid does not need to use auto shutdown safety. But cooking with less oil and ensuring that veggies are well cooked was something that I had to instruct her on, as in her regular cooking she would fry the veggies in more oil (for talimpu/dry curry) and perhaps not cook the veggies so much. So some of my food needs were new to her and therefore she needed some instructions from me.
Besides using my single stove LPG setup she was also able to quickly pick up how to use the induction cooktop which has a rather simple user interface.
This cooking help maid fell ill for a few days at which time I was able to comfortably cook simple meals myself, with auto shutdown safety.
For breakfast, I am now exploring cooking simple breakfast myself (with auto shutdown safety) on some days, and procuring it from a hotel on other days. Hotel breakfast or any packaged quick-cooking breakfast (like 3-minute MTR poha or upma) has salt in it which I try to compensate for by adding saltless component in breakfast like fruit.
Overall, things are quite comfortable on the food front now, largely meeting my diet needs of low salt, low oil and well cooked food.
At times, especially when my regular cooking help maid fell ill, I ask/asked my evening maid to do some cooking. In this connection, for the first time in my life where my cooking experience is rather limited, I faced a pressure cooker safety valve bursting incident. My evening maid was using the 2 Litre Hawkins pressure cooker with inner lid on LPG stove. While she regularly uses outer lid pressure cooker for cooking at her home, she did not have any experience with using inner lid pressure cookers. She seems to have not closed the lid properly while cooking rice inside the cooker. So the water inside the cooker seems to have escaped out quickly, with the rice getting burnt inside the cooker - I think this is referred to as 'boil dry' case. Then the heat inside the cooker seems to have gone beyond the safety point, at which time part of the fusible alloy material of the safety valve seems to have melted and steam, and perhaps part of the fusible alloy material, seems to have come out with force from the cooker. The inner lid handle part is on top of the safety valve and so the steam, and perhaps part of the fusible alloy material, would have hit that. The steam and alloy ejecting out of cooker and hitting the lid would have made the moderately loud bursting sound we heard. This was followed by sound of steam coming out of cooker, at which time the maid switched off the gas.
I did not understand what had happened nor did my maid. The next time we tried using this 2 L pressure cooker there was an odd sound (which seems to have been steam coming out of the hole in the safety valve but which we did not know then) at which time we switched off the gas. Before sending the cooker to the repair person, I examined the cooker carefully. When I looked at the lid closely I saw that the safety valve had a big hole in it. See below pic. Now it became clear to me what had happened.
On discussing it with two persons who have lot of experience with using pressure cookers, I learned that such safety valve bursts are not uncommon. If it happens, one gets a new safety valve fixed and then uses the pressure cooker.
Another point was whether the Puttaparthi repair person that my maid uses, would use original safety valve spare part of Hawkins, for the replacement. Fortunately that's what he did when my maid went to him (or sent her son to him). He gave the wrapper of the value too and so I could even check the hologram on it to confirm it is an original Hawkins spare part! See below pics.
He charged the MRP of Rs.35 for the valve and Rs.50 as his labour charge, which is a very reasonable charge. This is the advantage of using standard cooking devices in Puttaparthi. Good repair facilities along with original spare parts of cooking devices of well known companies, seem to be available for them.
We tested the Hawkins 2 L pressure cooker with new safety valve and confirmed that it is working okay.
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Note: This (Facebook) post construction took longer than few minutes - more like few hours. And that's because Facebook seems to have run into issues with above mentioned video I attempted to upload in the post. I was informed that my post is under processing and I could not access it for a few hours. end-Note
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